For decades, I’ve experienced the challenges of building businesses across continents. From Canada to Bangladesh, Sri Lanka to Malaysia, my journey has taught me that success isn’t about replicating a winning formula, but understanding the cultural nuances where you expand. It’s about thinking locally and acting globally.
We live in an interconnected world, but culture still defines commerce. This became clear to me when I witnessed businesses flourish in one market and flounder in another—not because of the product, but because of the approach they took. To navigate this challenge, one of my most powerful tools is the EIA Method—Embed, Interpret, Act. This method, which I coined, involves embedding ourselves into the community before we move, market, or manage; listening deeply to understand cultural nuances; then interpreting the patterns that shape decision-making and acting in ways that resonate authentically. Whether building a fintech in South Asia or healthcare education in North America, this framework has proven invaluable.
Understanding cultural realities is crucial, as global growth doesn’t come from scaling a model, but from scaling understanding. I’ve sat in classrooms in Bangladesh debating case studies with local leaders who saw Western norms through a different lens. For instance, Grab surpassed Uber in South Asia not with more technology, but through greater cultural fluency. I’ve made painful mistakes by assuming what worked in Winnipeg would work in Dhaka and earned wisdom through tough failure.
My own experience highlighted this lesson. When I first moved to Bangladesh to help run my father’s business, I arrived with Western assumptions, expecting my Canadian education would be an advantage. I quickly misunderstood reactions and misread situations, resisting the very culture I needed to serve, but things began to change when I started making a conscious effort to embed myself. I stopped comparing everything to “back home in Canada”. I enrolled in an MBA program in Dhaka to gain local perspectives on global business and began listening more attentively. Gradually, I gained a more diverse perspective.
The process of embedding goes beyond simple observation; embedding is about observing local consumer behaviour, understanding daily habits, and decoding social norms. It’s about sitting in a tea shop and observing how people pay, interact, and what they value. It’s where cultural intelligence begins. Once you embed, you start to see the nuances that others miss. You realize that two consumers from the same cultural background, such as a Bangladeshi living in Canada and one living in Dhaka, may share a heritage but have completely different motivations, trust levels, and buying patterns. Without interpretation, your data has no context.
For instance, making eye contact in the West is often seen as a sign of confidence, but in many Asian cultures, it can be perceived as a sign of disrespect. I once misread a business partner’s body language, not realizing he was being respectful, and I nearly lost the deal because of it. These are the kinds of lessons you only learn by interpreting, not assuming. You start recognizing what matters in that specific context, and you stop trying to retrofit global templates onto local realities.
With this foundation, action only comes after embedding and interpreting. At Priyo, we learned this firsthand by recognizing that many underserved immigrant communities in the UK prioritized data rates over cellular rates, helping to grow Priyo from 200 inactive users to 65,000 active subscribers in just two years. The lesson is clear: action without cultural insight is just noise. But action rooted in real understanding? That’s where momentum is created.
This same principle applies at Computek College in Canada, where I now serve as CEO. The majority of our students are global citizens who come from every corner of the world. Many of these individuals arrive with valuable skills but encounter barriers in the Canadian labour market. We help them overcome these challenges by addressing cultural nuances, while also supporting Canadian companies to improve recruitment and retention of talent new to Canada. This approach has helped many of our students land meaningful jobs because we’re not just teaching skills; we’re teaching cultural fluency.
Having worked with these principles, it’s clear that building globally isn’t just about thinking big, but about thinking on a practical level. What works in Toronto may not work in Karachi, and Western business norms are just one perspective, not the default. Real consumer insights do not come from boardrooms, but from marketplaces, festivals, classrooms, and street corners. Looking at today’s marketplace, the global companies that are succeeding are those that start by listening and don’t arrive with assumptions; they come with questions, and they don’t impose, but they customize. That’s the path I’ve chosen with 369 Global. Whether we’re launching an education product or supporting diaspora entrepreneurs, we begin with respect, and then we embed, interpret, and act.
This mindset shapes every phase of global expansion. It’s important to remember that international expansion is not a victory lap—it’s a test of your adaptability, your cultural intelligence, and your willingness to learn. For every business that succeeds abroad, dozens stumble because they didn’t take the time to understand. Scaling across borders isn’t about conquering new markets. It’s about building relationships, one community at a time.
If you’re looking to build globally, remember the main lesson is to start with a genuine curiosity for local culture and a willingness to adapt. Don’t start with your pitch deck; instead, go directly to the market source by stepping into unfamiliar places, asking real questions, and listening and observing before taking action. Those who gain cultural understanding and adaptability are those who achieve and drive global success.
